Kayak.com, a travel search site, has appointed Robert Birge(Chicago, 1998-2001) chief marketing officer. Robert will manage all offline marketing, advertising, and public relations, including the planned launch of a major offline-advertising campaign.
Rick Boven(Dallas, Auckland, 1990-1992, 1998-2002) has been appointed the new director of the New Zealand Institute think tank.
David Brownell(Melbourne, 1990-2003) has been named an independent director on the board of Gloucester Coal. David is an organization and strategy consultant and was previously a director of Hunter colliery Donaldson Coal.
Gridiron Capital, founded by managing partner Tom Burger(Chicago, 1992-1994), recently acquired Electronic Systems Protection and SurgeX. Both companies design and manufacture power filtration and protection products for the commercial, professional, and high-end consumer markets.
GMAC Financial Services has named Michael Carpenter(Chicago, Boston, 1973-1983) an independent director. Michael has been chairman of Southgate Alternative Investments since 2006.
The board of Numis Corporation has appointed Gerald Corbett(London, 1975-1982) a nonexecutive director. Gerald was formerly chairman of Woolworths Group and CEO of Railtrack Group.
Rob Devey(London, Boston, 1998-2002) will become the chief executive of Prudential UK and Europe in September. Rob has worked at Lloyds Banking Group since 2002 in a number of senior roles, including managing director of direct channels U.K. retail banking, managing director of HBOS Financial Services, and managing director of HBOS General Insurance.
Alexander Domin(Cologne, 2006-2009) has joined WHEB Ventures, one of Europe’s leading clean-technology specialist venture-capital firms, as an associate in the Munich office. Previously, he cofounded and was a director of ENVAL LTD, a technology company developed for the treatment of packaging waste in Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Bill Drehkoff(Chicago, 2002-2007) has joined Chicago-based buyout firm Linden LLC as a principal. He was previously a vice president with The Edgewater Funds and began his principal investing career when he joined the founding partners of Linden at First Chicago Equity Capital.
Rose & Sky Group has appointed Manuel Ebner (Zurich, 1991-2000) CEO of its fund advisor, Rose & Sky Investments, and managing partner of its fund manager, Rose & Sky Investments (Cayman). Before joining Rose & Sky, Manuel was CEO of BZ Bank.
InterWest Partners, a diversified venture-capital firm, has hired Doug Fisher (New York, 2003-2006) as a new principal on its investing team. Doug will focus on biopharmaceutical and diagnostics investments. Before joining InterWest, he was a vice president at New Leaf Venture Partners.
Michael Fries (Berlin, 2001-2003) has been named to the executive board of the Neumüller CeWe Color Foundation. He is responsible for all five plants of the CeWe Color Group in Germany, a leading service provider in the photo and printing industry. On the board, Michael will be in charge of human resources, logistics, and the development of the commercial-digital-print business unit.
Britta Fuenfstueck (Vienna, 1998-2000) has been promoted to head of the molecular imaging business unit at Siemens Molecular Imaging and has transferred to the United States. In her new position, she is responsible for one of the most important strategeic areas in the health care sector, which could replace the current medical imaging methods.
Thomas Girgensohn (Munich, 1980-1983; Sydney, 1990-1997) and Ingeborg Girgensohn have established the Girgensohn Foundation. Its objective is to support medical research, Aboriginal education, and the arts through projects that can achieve significant sustained results and benefits.
Reed Elsevier has appointed Anthony Habgood (Tokyo, Munich, London, Boston, 1970-1986) chairman.
Morten Hansen (Stockholm, San Francisco, London, 1988-1991, 2000-2002) has written Collaboration: How Leaders Avoid the Traps, Create Unity, and Reap Big Results. Published by Harvard Business School Publishing, the book uses the competition between the Apple iPod and the Sony Connect as a starting point for examining the importance of companywide collaboration.
Annelin Henriksen (Oslo, 1996-2001) has been elected to the board of Hexagon Composites. Annelin is currently working to establish Norway's Friluftshøyskole (center for outdoor-life studies).
Andy Hornby (London, 1988-1993), former chief executive of HBOS, has been named CEO of Alliance Boots, Britain's biggest pharmacy chain.
Zafgen has named Matthias Jaffé (Munich, 1996 - 1999) chief financial officer and vice president of business development. Before joining Zafgen, Matthias served as chief financial officer at a number of private, venture-backed life-sciences organizations, most recently at Alantos Pharmaceuticals, which he led the through its acquisition by Amgen for more than $300 million.
Carla Kriwet (Hamburg, London, 1997-2003) is now head of health care Continental & Northern Europe at Linde. In this role, Carla is responsible for 1,700 employees and €500 million in revenue.
Enterprise software company SenSage has named Bruno Kurtic (Boston, New York, 2005-2008) vice president of product management.
Edeltraud Leibrock (Munich, 2000-2009) has recently joined the Bayerische Landesbank (BayernLB, the federal state bank of Bavaria) in Munich as chief information officer. In this role, she will be responsible for the whole bank group.
Freenasp Mobedjina (Stockholm, Dallas, 1993-2004) has been appointed to the supervisory council of Elion Ettevotted Akstsiaselts. Freenasp is currently head of TeliaSonera Broadband Services in Denmark.
ACCO Brands, a world leader in select categories of branded office products, has elected Michael Norkus (Boston, 1975-1986) to its board of directors. Michael is president of Alliance Consulting Group, a strategy firm that specializes in developing growth strategies for companies in consumer goods, manufactured products, commercial services, and high-tech and retail industries.
Grove Street Advisors, a private-equity investment advisory firm, has announced that Kiran Rao (Mumbai, Boston, Zurich, 2002-2009) has joined the firm as a principal. He will be involved in all aspects of due diligence and portfolio monitoring.
Ubidyne, a leader in digital-radio technology for the wireless industry, has appointed Luca Rossetto (Milan, 1993-1998) to the company’s advisory board. Luca was appointed chief operating officer of Vodafone Omnitel in February 2002.
SoundBite Communications has elected Eileen Rudden (Boston, 1976-1983) chairman of its board of directors. Eileen has held several senior positions in the software industry over the past 25 years. Most recently, she served as vice president and general manager of the Unified Communications Division of Avaya.
Clear Channel Communications has appointed Vishal Sharma (Dallas, 2003-2009) senior vice president, strategic initiatives. In this newly created position, Vishal will lead the development and implementation of Clear Channel's strategic initiatives and companywide transformation efforts.
Vanderbilt University has appointed Brett Sweet (Dallas, 1999-2004) vice chancellor and chief financial officer. Brett comes to Vanderbilt from Harvard University, where he was dean of administration and finance of the school’s faculty of arts and sciences, which encompasses Harvard College, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the School of Engineering and Applied Science, and the Division of Continuing Education.